The History of Thiruneelakanta Naayanaar
The Great Saint:
In
Chidambaram, there once lived a zealous devotee of Lord Siva. His profession
was making pots and clay items. He had the highest regard for the devotees of
Lord Siva, too. He was ever eager to serve them. Hence his service was to
provide clay bowls to whoever bows down to the Lord Shiva. He was specially
charmed by the blue throat of the Lord shiva and used to utter the word “Thiruneelakantam”
often. (Spl. Note: Thiruneelagandam
uttered once is equal to 10000 times of uttering Panchaksharamantram “Namasivayam”).
Hence, he was called Thiruneelakanta Nayanar. He would always tell others how,
for the protection of the world the Lord drank the virulent poison, and he
would assure his friends that they who took refuge under His feet would be
purged of all sins and would finally be taken to His Abode.
He being the place of
all good qualities, on account of a chance moral lapse on his part, his wife
got into a persisting lover’s tiff (Oodal). His better half was a very
beautiful lady with the heart more beautiful than that and had the most
beautiful Lord in that heart. She
continued do all things needed for the household, but denied her husband marital
relations. Once when he tried to embrace her in a fit of passion, she forbade
him with an oath and said: “In the name of Neelakanta, I ask you: do not touch
us”. Though she only meant herself, she had used the word “us”. Since she took
the name of the Lord and since she had used the word us, “Neelakanta” Nayanar
decided that from that day he would not touch any woman in the world. Such was
his sincere devotion to the Lord. They continued to live together in a
perfectly celibate thereafter. No one knew about it. Years rolled by and they
had grown old appearing to the world as leading a full and happy married life.
Iraivar Thiruvarul: Lord Siva desiring to reveal to the world the
greatness of his devotee and glory of the couple, came in the guise of a Siva
Yogi (a Saivite mendicant). The Lord came to Tiruneelakantar’s house. Naayanaar
welcomed him and worshipped him. The Yogi gave him a begging bowl and said: ‘Oh
noble soul, kindly keep this in your safe custody, till I come back for it. To
me it is extremely precious. It has the wonderful property of purifying
anything that comes into contact with it. So, please protect it with the
greatest care.’ Then the Siva Yogi left the place and Naayanaar kept the bowl
in a very safe place in the house.
After a long time, Lord
Siva came to the house of Naayanaar, as the same Siva Yogi and asked for the
bowl. The Lord himself, by the power of his maya, caused it to vanish from the place
kept in the house! Naayanaar searched for it, but could not find it. It was a
mystery to him. Trembling with fear, he fell at the Yogi’s feet and said that
he could not find it. At this, the Yogi got very angry and accused Naayanaar ,
calling him a thief and cheat. Naayanaar offered to replace the bowl with a costlier
one; but the Yogi did not accept. Again and again Naayanaar pleaded that he had
not stolen the bowl and that by a divine mystery it was missing from the house.
The Yogi demanded that if that was the truth, Naayanaar should say so on oath,
holding his son’s hand and immersing in temple’s tank. The poor saint replied, alas!
I have no son. Then Yogi asked him to hold his wife’s hand and immerse in the
water of temple tank and declare the fact as oath. When Nayanar, who had
resolved in the name of the Lord, not to touch any female, declined this stating,
“on account of a vow between us long back, I’m unable to take her with me. I
alone will immerse myself and make a declaration you seek”.
The Yogi attributed
this unwillingness to the fact that Naayanaar had in fact been guilty of theft.
They went to the court. The assembly heard the case. They asked Naayanaar to
promise, as desired by the Yogi. Naayanaar got into the temple tank, along with
his wife; they had a bamboo stick in their hand, and each of them was holding
one end of it. The Yogi objected to this and wanted that Naayanaar should
actually hold his wife’s hand with his own. Naayanaar was forced to declare
publicly the past incidents to the assembly. After this narration, Naayanaar and
his wife immersed themselves in water. A miracle happened. As they emerged from
the water, they shone with youth and beauty.
The Siva Yogi disappeared from
their midst and Lord Siva and Mother Parvathy appeared in the sky, blessing all
of them. The Lord said: ‘Due to the merit of having lived a life of
self-control and devotion, you will live in My Eternal Abode, forever
youthful.’ The Lord thus revealed the glory of supreme devotion to him and took
them to his abode of heaven.
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